Breaking glass ceiling by bursting arts bubble

Genevieve with (left) a bubble wrap portrait and (right) one created using brown parcel tape.

Published:16:00Friday 06 June 2014

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Some artists like using unconventional materials – but not many go as far as Genevieve Pennington.

Bubble wrap, screws and dice are among the items this highly original St Helens artist has turned to in order to create her striking portraits.

One of her most difficult projects involved injecting paint into a piece of bubble wrap.

“I used a syringe to inject a bit of paint into each individual bubble to build up the picture,” she explained.

“It took quite a time as I reckon there were around eight to ten thousand bubbles.”

For another work Genevieve piled over 1,000 different coloured crayons into a block and used the tips to create the portrait. Another picture featured more than 2,000 dice – while she sometimes uses layers of brown parcel tape on top of a backlit sheet of glass.

You can see how Genevieve uses everyday objects to create unique works of art in The People’s Choice, the latest exhibition at The World of Glass.

After winning The People’s Choice award in the 2012 St Helens Open Art Exhibition she has now been invited back to showcase a bigger collection of her work.

Genevieve studied psychology at St John Rigby College in Wigan but admits she was always hanging around the art classes.

She started out drawing in pencil or pen but then moved on to more unorthodox techniques, using objects and materials that are not usually considered to be used for art.

Although completely self-taught, she has already exhibited in several galleries across the UK and was recently short-listed among 30 artists as part of the New Lights exhibition, highlighting promising Northern artists.

The People’ Choice runs at the Godfrey Pilkington Gallery in The World of Glass until June 20.